So, Samsung is offering $4M to developers to write apps for the Tizen platform. The kicker – Tizen isn’t Android. It’s a linux-based mobile OS that focuses on hybrid web technologies, much like WebOS.

Let’s put the news into some perspective:

Samsung is undisputedly the largest Android mobile vendor

They’re reliant on Google for Android development

Tizen can run Android apps

Samsung hardly mentions “Android” on their consumer-facing websites

This is a great opportunity for them to build an independent platform and be in control of their own destiny. From the business standpoint, this makes strategic sense to become a new market leader, though it’s hard to say whether or not this will end up being a good idea.

The patterns of usage in each city often reflect economic stratification. For example iPhones, in red, are predominantly in wealthy sections of the city while Android phones, in green, have more coverage in poorer sections. On a global level, national trends reveal a complicated set of cultural preferences.

I wouldn’t say this is surprising – simply another data point demonstrating what we already know… iPhone owners have more disposable income. It explains how the iOS is more profitable as a platform than Android.

Ryan Heise summed it up nicely in Four Months With Android. I used an HTC incredible for 11 months. There are some great things about Android, but the negatives far outweigh the benefits for me. Android was just underwhelming. The UI and UX isn’t as nicely polished as iOS. Android apps, on average, just aren’t as well polished. Android reminds me of Windows of years past. Sure, it more or less works, but it’s just not that great of an experience.

I’ve been wrestling with this question for some time, and I thought this post may help sort out my thoughts and opinions while giving you some important insight. Are hybrid mobile apps going to become the developer’s choice anytime soon? The debate can be pretty heated as companies choose one technology over the other.

Hybrid, the Unlikely Union

Let’s get the definitions straight before we begin. A hybrid app is one of those mobile apps that uses a native web view to display HTML, CSS, and JS “web” apps. They’re only sort-of “web apps” because they are run locally, though they often pull data from online sources via AJAX requests. So, you have this HTML/CSS/JS app running inside of a natively-compiled stand-alone web browser of sorts on your phone. One such example is PhoneGap. Because the logic bits of the app are written using web technologies, you can often develop once and deploy on multiple platforms, so long as you’re using supported markup. You’re killing multiple birds with one stone.

Hybrid is the Bee’s Knees

As I mentioned above, hybrid technologies are great for developing cross-platform apps. Seriously – since iOS, Android, and even some Blackberry devices are both running Webkit most, if not all, your html, css, js is going to work remarkably similarly on both platforms. It’s pretty enticing. From your and your client’s perspective it’s a pretty easy sell. For one round of development you have the potential to hit many more users. It’s pretty cost-effective. Pretty soon you’re singing the praises of your decision and you’ve decided that from now on hybrid apps are the bee’s knees.